Nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere of marine angiosperms

High rates of acetylene reduction were observed in systems containing excised rhizomes of the Caribbean marine angiosperms Thalassia testudinum, Syringodium filiforme and Diplanthera wrightii, and the temperate marine angiosperm Zostera marina. For 4 plant and plant-sediment systems the ratio of acetylene reduced/N₂ fixed varied from 2.6 to 4.6. For T. testudinum the estimated rates of nitrogen fixation are in agreement with estimated requirements of the plant for nitrogen. For a typical T. testudinum stand, N₂ fixation is estimated to be 100 to 500 kg N/hectare per year. Numbers of N₂-fixing bacteria in the rhizosphere sediments were roughly 50 to 300 times more abundant than those in the nonrhizosphere sediments, and in both types of sediments were of the same orders as the estimated numbers of heterotrophic aerobes.Canadian IBP Contribution No. 137.